Resumen
Relative wavelet energy entropy (RWEE) is proposed to detect and quantify damage to hysteretic dampers used for the passive seismic control of building structures. Hysteretic dampers have the role of dissipating most of the energy input of an earthquake. Minor or moderate earthquakes do not exhaust the energy dissipation capacity of the dampers, yet they damage them. For this reason, continuous or periodic damper-health evaluation is required to decide if they need to be replaced. Such evaluation calls for the application of efficient structural health monitoring techniques (SHM). This paper focuses on the well-known vibration technique, which is applied to a particular type of hysteretic damper called Web Plastifying Damper (WPD), patented by the University of Granada. Vibration signals, properly recorded by piezoelectric sensors attached around the damaged area of the dampers, are decomposed by means of wavelet packet analysis. Then, the relative wavelet energy entropy of these decompositions is used to calculate the proposed index. Validation of RWEE for this particular application involved dampers installed in two different specimens of reinforced concrete structures subjected to earthquake sequences of increasing intensity. When compared with a well-established mechanical energy-based damage index, results demonstrate that RWEE is a successful and low-cost technique for reliable in-situ monitoring of dampers.